Harry Price
Harry Price (born January 17, 1881 in London , † March 29, 1948 ) was a British parapsychologist and author.
childhood
Harry Price was born in Red Lion Square. His father was Edward Ditcher Price, a traveling salesman and grocer. His mother's name was Emma Randall Price. He also had a sister. He went to three different schools in London, Waller Road School , Haberdashers 'Aske's Hatcham College and Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham Boys School . At the age of 15 he founded the Carlton Dramatic Society , for which he wrote smaller plays. One drama was about a poltergeist with whom he claims to have had experiences at an early age.
Parapsychological research
Like Houdini , Harry Price had a split relationship with magic. On the one hand, due to his own knowledge of sleight of hand and stage magic, he was very critical of the whole thing, on the other hand he had the urgent need to witness really supernatural events. Harry Price had his first successes in the field of parapsychological research in 1922 when he convicted the "ghost photographer" William Hope of fraud. In the same year he traveled to Germany with Eric Dingwall to investigate the case of the medium Willi Schneider in Munich.
In 1923 he turned to the University of London with the request to found an institute for the study of parapsychological phenomena and to provide it with the necessary financial means and to allow the use of laboratories and a library. The University of London, Department of Psychology, responded positively and in 1924 the University of London Council for Psychical Investigation was established. Price became honorary secretary and editor. In 1926, Price traveled to the continent again, this time to examine Eleonora Zugun, who believed she was possessed by a devil. He invited her and her patroness, Countess Zoë Wassilko von Serecki , to London, where he examined Eleonora Zugun between September 30 and October 24, 1926.
In 1929 and 1930 Price examined Rudi Schneider, Willi Schneider's brother.
In the Goethe year 1932, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his death, Price traveled to the Harz mountains to lead a black magic ritual with the witch experiment , in the course of which a goat was supposed to turn into a young man. In 1934 the National Laboratory of Psychical Research began its most famous case study: they paid the medium Helen Duncan £ 50 so that their work could be examined under scientific control conditions. A sample of Helen Duncan's ectoplasm had already been examined in advance in the laboratory, with the result that the alleged ectoplasm consisted mainly of protein. Price found that Duncan's ghost manifestations were cotton gauze that she had swallowed before the sessions and then choked back up at the appropriate moment. Price later described this case in the chapter The cheese-cloth Worshipper of his book Leaves from a Psychist's Case Book . During the 1944 UK trial of Duncan, Price gave his research to the court as evidence on the indictment.
Price continued his research. He examined the Indian rope trick as well as Kuda Bux 's firewalking demonstrations. At the same time he was involved in the founding of the national film institute (British Film Institute) and was its first chairman (until 1941). And he was a co-founder of the Shakespeare Film Society. In 1936 he made a report for the BBC about a supposedly cursed estate in Meopham, Kent, which was shown under the titles The Confession of a Ghost-Hunter and The Haunting of Cashen's Gap . In the same year he gave his extensive library on permanent loan to the University of London, only to shortly afterwards also transfer his laboratory and research equipment to the university.
In 1937 he directed further broadcasts on the BBC, during which Ahmed Hussain ran over fire. In the same year he succeeded in renting the Borley Parish (Borley Rectory) for a year in order to be able to make further investigations there. Together with 40 other ghost hunters, he moved into the parish to get to the bottom of the ghost. In 1938, on Price's initiative, the Ghost Club was revived, and Price became chairman of this club. He made experiments with Rahman Bey, who was "buried alive" in Carshalton, and drafted guidelines for conducting parapsychological experiments. In 1939 he initiated a national telepathy test in the John O'London Weekly . In the 1940s he focused on writing down his research and published The Most Haunted House in England, Poltergeist Over England and The End of Borley Rectory .
In 1943 Price visited the ruins of Borley Parish, which burned down in 1939, and discovered a woman's skeleton among the remains.
Prices Archives were donated to the University of London by his widow between 1976 and 1978. This includes his extensive correspondence, drafts of his publications, newspaper reports on libel suits, reports on his research, press cuttings and photographs.
Works
- Revelations of a Spirit Medium, with Eric J. Dingwall, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd, London, hardcover, 1922
- Cold Light on Spiritualistic "Phenomena" - An Experiment with the Crewe Circle, by Harry Price, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd, 1922
- Stella C. An Account of Some Original Experiments in Psychical Research, Hurst & Blackett Ltd., hardcover, 1925
- Rudi Schneider: A Scientific Examination of his Mediumship, Methuen & Co. Ltd., Hardcover, 1930.
- Leaves from a Psychist's Case Book, by Harry Price, Victor Gollancz Ltd., hardcover, 1933.
- Confessions of a Ghost-Hunter, Putnam & Co. Ltd., London, hardcover, 1936.
- The Haunting of Cashen's Gap: A Modern "Miracle" Investigated - Mit RS Lambert, Methuen & Co. Ltd., hardcover, 1936.
- Fifty Years of Psychical Research: A Critical Survey Longmans, Green & Co. Ltd., Hardcover, 1939.
- The Most Haunted House in England: Ten Years' Investigation of Borley Rectory, Longmans, Green & Co. Ltd., hardcover, 1940.
- Search for Truth: My Life for Psychical Research, Collins, London, hardcover, 1942.
- Poltergeist Over England: Three Centuries of Mischievous Ghosts, Country Life Ltd., hardcover, 1945.
- The End of Borley Rectory, Harrap & Co. Ltd., hardcover, 1946.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Price, Harry |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British researcher and author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 17, 1881 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 29, 1948 |